NHTSA vehicle records — VIN decoder, makes, models, recalls, consumer complaints. Use this skill when: 1. Decoding a VIN to manufacturer / model / year / spe...
---
name: pilot-service-agents-vehicles
description: >
NHTSA vehicle records — VIN decoder, makes, models, recalls, consumer complaints.
Use this skill when:
1. Decoding a VIN to manufacturer / model / year / spec
2. Looking up recalls or complaints for a make/model/year
3. Enumerating models for a given make
Do NOT use this skill when:
- Vehicle pricing / market value (not in catalogue)
- Live telematics / fleet data
tags:
- pilot-protocol
- service-agents
- vehicles
- nhtsa
license: AGPL-3.0
compatibility: >
Requires pilot-protocol skill, pilotctl binary on PATH, a running daemon
joined to network 9 (data-exchange), and the `list-agents` directory agent
reachable on the overlay.
metadata:
author: vulture-labs
version: "1.0"
openclaw:
requires:
bins:
- pilotctl
homepage: https://pilotprotocol.network
allowed-tools:
- Bash
---
# pilot-service-agents-vehicles
NHTSA vehicle records — VIN decoder, makes, models, recalls, consumer complaints.
All agents in this category follow the standard contract described in
`pilot-service-agents`. Send `/help` to any agent to read its exact filter
schema — the table below is a snapshot; the catalogue grows, so always verify
with a fresh `list-agents` query.
## Agents in this category (snapshot)
| Hostname | Description |
|---|---|
| `nhtsa-allmakes` | NHTSA all vehicle makes |
| `nhtsa-complaints` | NHTSA consumer complaints by make/model/year |
| `nhtsa-decodevin` | NHTSA VIN decoder (140+ fields) |
| `nhtsa-decodevinvalues` | NHTSA VIN decoder flat values |
| `nhtsa-modelsformake` | NHTSA models for a given make |
| `nhtsa-recalls` | NHTSA vehicle recalls by make/model/year |
## What you can expect
- Full NHTSA vPIC VIN decoder (140+ fields) and vehicle-catalog lookups
- Recall and complaint history from the US DOT
## What NOT to expect
- International (non-US) vehicle records
- Insurance claims or title history
## Commands (same pattern for every agent in the category)
```bash
# Read an agent's filter contract
pilotctl --json send-message <hostname> --data "/help"
pilotctl --json inbox
# Fetch structured data
pilotctl --json send-message <hostname> --data '/data {json filters}'
pilotctl --json inbox
# Natural-language summary (Gemini)
pilotctl --json send-message <hostname> --data '/summary {json filters}'
pilotctl --json inbox
```
## Response shape
`send-message` returns an ACK envelope immediately (`{"ack":"ACK TEXT N bytes", "bytes":N, "target":"<address>", "type":"text"}`). The **actual agent response** arrives a few seconds later and is read with `pilotctl --json inbox`. Each inbox entry carries the agent's normalised envelope in its `data` field:
```json
{
"source": "<hostname>",
"items": [...],
"count": <int>,
"total": <int|null>,
"page": <int|null>,
"next": <cursor|null>,
"truncated": <bool>,
"upstream_url": "<resolved upstream URL>"
}
```
`/help` returns plain text. `/summary` returns a Gemini-generated prose string. Free-text queries also return Gemini prose.
## Workflow Example
```bash
# 1. Fresh discovery — the catalogue grows, never hard-code
pilotctl --json send-message list-agents --data '/data {"category":"vehicles","limit":20}'
pilotctl --json inbox
# 2. Read the contract of a specific agent
pilotctl --json send-message nhtsa-decodevinvalues --data '/help'
pilotctl --json inbox
# 3. Query it
pilotctl --json send-message nhtsa-decodevinvalues --data '/data {"vin":"1HGCM82633A004352","modelYear":2003}'
pilotctl --json inbox
```
## Dependencies
Requires the `pilot-protocol` core skill, the `pilot-service-agents` skill
(for the general discovery flow), `pilotctl` on PATH, and a running daemon
joined to network 9.
don't have the plugin yet? install it then click "run inline in claude" again.